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Andrew Vasile
John Kubler
English 115
23 October 2014
Objectifying or Empowering
The society we live in today is probably the most hyper-sexualized society than any other
country. Americans cannot walk down the street or drive their cars to work without sexual
images from television, movies, and everyday product advertisements being shoved into their
face. There is even the way that young adult women dress today that is much more sexual than
the way women dress in other parts of the world, like the Middle East. Feminists argue back and
forth whether what some of these women are doing to themselves and what they are showing to
the public is considered objectification, or empowerment. Although many argue that this hypersexualized society is negatively influencing young teens and also negatively impacting
individual identity our society today empowers women to be who they want to be, because it
gives women the freedom to choose what they want to do with their bodies and allows them to
explore their own sexual identity.
The most accepted idea about gender stereotypes is that men and women are very
different; some would even say worlds apart. New research is showing that the sexual drives
between men and women is more similar then people used to think. The common belief is that
men are sexual predators who are looking for many women to have casual sex with. On the other
hand women are more nurturing and are looking for a single partner to help raise her kids.
Jennifer L. Petersen and Janet Shibley Hyde conducted an experiment over fourteen years to
analyze the sexual behaviors between the two genders. They started with looking at the gender

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stereotypes for men and women then came to the conclusion disproving the gap in sexual desires
between men and women. They concluded that, The implications for gender equality in sexual
expression range from increased sexual self-esteem and freedom of sexual expression to reduced
sexual disorders for both men and women (Olivia and Hyde 16). When there is a hypersexualized society, men and women feel more comfortable to explore their sexual desires
without fear of being judged by society.
When young adults and teenagers see advertisements on bus benches or on huge
billboards that portray a sexual dominance of one gender over the other then most people will
argue that this lowers their self-esteem and also causes a struggle for power between the two
genders. Advertisers simply use this tactic as a way to target a certain audience to purchase their
products, and they are also trying to get their audience to believe a certain story that goes along
with the ad. The relationships that young people have today are always either dominated by the
male partner or the female, whether or not they see a female or male having more power in an
advertisement will not change the dynamics of their relationships. If anything, these ads inspire
both genders to empower their sexual dominance and allow them to see that they have a sexual
identity that they can embrace to be the person they want to be. In the book Persepolis the main
character, Marji, struggles having relationships with men in Europe because she grew up in a
traditional country where they were censored from sexual images. When Marji was at her first
party in Vienna she did not have fun she even explained that, Then I was turned off by all these
public displays of affection. What do you expect, I came from a traditionalist country (185). Her
lack of exposure to any kind of sexual images affected the way she fit in with people from
different parts of the world. It also negatively impacted every relationship she ever had, she felt
insecure about her body and herself, which caused her to spiral into a deep depression.

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In the past few years there has been a huge increase in raunch culture in television
shows, movies, and music. Music videos have always been hyper-sexualized even if it has
nothing to do with the song itself. Music video directors seem to find it more appealing when the
singer is embracing their sexual power and using it in their videos to control their surroundings.
We find this mostly with female singers who feminists claim that they are objectifying
themselves. If a female wants to explore her sexuality and even embrace it so they feel like they
have control over men then this feeling is not a feeling of objectification to these women. These
women feel empowered because they believe that they are expressing themselves in the way they
want to be seen. If women show men that their sexual desires are just as strong as theirs and that
they are as sexually empowered as men are then there will be less sexism and double standards
placed on women for being more openly sexualized. Empowerment should be left to the
individual woman to decide whether or not she feels she is degrading herself or if she is
empowering herself by freely expressing what she desires in a relationship.
Society is putting a label on todays relationships and they are calling it the hook-up
generation. Young people are not committing themselves to serious relationships with each other
and instead only embracing the physical aspect of it. While some may find this problematic I
believe that his helps young people build healthier relationships in the future. While people are
young they want to explore their sexual desires and experiment with different things, this is
difficult to do when people are in a serious more emotional relationship. Once these young
people get older they will be more comfortable with themselves and their bodies and will be able
to focus on the main element in the relationship, and that is the emotional side to it. I believe that
this hyper-sexualized society helps young people to become more comfortable with themselves
and doesnt allow them to be censored from what the world really is.

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In class we viewed two movies that had different relationship dynamics in the characters.
One of them was the film Crazy, Stupid, Love which was a film centered around the heartbreak
one man faced once his wife admitted to cheating on him and asked for a divorce. The whole
reasoning the wife gave was that she was bored with their marriage and that there was no sexual
fire to make things interesting anymore. This shows what happens to relationships once the
sexual flare is gone. This society inspires people to try new things sexually and helps them stay
together out of the fun and experience that comes with a hyper-sexualized relationship. The
second relationship that was going on in the movie was between a much younger couple that was
much more sexualized then the married couple. There relationship, at the end of the movie,
showed them happily in love because they were comfortable with who they were and they did
not bore each other.
The second film was titled Jerry Maguire and it revolved around a chauvinist, powerful,
charming sports agent who found himself in many unsuccessful relationships until he found the
woman he thought he was going to marry. He found himself struggling with intimacy though and
eventually ended it before they got married. He then moved onto another woman that he married
but eventually found himself stuck in that relationship for the same reason he broke off his
earlier engagement. What made him realize that he has a good relationship was the want to share
the moments in his life with someone else. He never realized this until he saw his client talking
to his wife on the phone and wanted the same connection they had.
With a hyper-sexualized society males and females can explore their own individual
sexual identities and it allows them to get more comfortable with who they are. Once their
relationships start to grow into something more serious it allows them to also open up and
connect better on an emotional level.

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